Course Description
Introductory ideas about mathematics education, including current mathematics standards and policy documents, learning theories, and teaching strategies. Students will explore how secondary students think about and learn mathematics, examine how to select and modify tasks, use appropriate technology, and apply their learning in an accompanying field experience.
Additional Requirements for Graduate Students:
Graduate students will be expected to complete additional
assignments that familiarize them with mathematics education
research and practice. Additional assignments will include
readings suitable for graduate students (e.g., articles from
high-impact research journals), and the students will be
expected to connect the advanced readings to their experiences
in the courses (e.g., conducting article syntheses of all
course readings; designing tasks that incorporate ideas from
their advanced readings).
Athena Title
Teach Secondary School Math I
Corequisite
EMAT 4810/6810 and EMAT 4800L/6800L
Semester Course Offered
Offered spring
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
Students in this class will: 1. Widen their repertoires of communication strategies and skills by: • learning to listen to and learn from high school students. • learning to communicate mathematically with high school students. • planning and carrying out appropriate activities for a student. • becoming aware of students’ mathematical thinking and how it might impact teaching. 2. Experience teaching/learning strategies that align with current reform efforts by: • learning to create an environment that is safe for students to share and justify their thinking, ask questions, make conjectures, and take risks. • learning to guide individual and some small-group work. • coming to view mathematics as a sense-making activity. • assessing students' mathematical thinking and their understanding of mathematics concepts and procedures, and planning instruction based on those understandings. • respecting students' thinking, even when one does not understand it. 3. Understand the theoretical underpinnings of instructional practices by: • becoming aware of historical and current theories of mathematical learning. • becoming aware of the current national and state recommendations regarding the teaching of secondary school mathematics, and planning instruction that follows these recommendations. • developing an understanding of the scope and sequence of the school mathematics curriculum. • being familiar with a variety of activities, materials, and technology for use in mathematics instruction.
Topical Outline
•Introduction to program, philosophy of teacher preparation •Expectations of professional behavior •NCTM principles, including Equity, Learning •National and state standards, including learning objectives and goals •Analyzing and selecting/modifying tasks, including cognitive demand, evaluating resources •Intro to theories of learning, including historical perspective, implications for teaching •Working with individual students •Analyzing an individual student’s thinking
Syllabus
Public CV